ATLA: The Last of the Shadowbenders
by IceWolfcat
Summary: Analay, the last shadowbender, goes on a quest to avenge her dead parents, meeting new adversaries and companions along the way.
1. Chapter 1

The Last of the Shadowbenders: Chapter 1

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I am the last of my kind. I am the only one left. 10 years ago, my people, secluded in a faraway corner of the four nations, died out during a Fire Nation attack. I was the only one left. I am alone. Truly alone.

Gliding on my shadow monster, across the rough and burnt terrain, charred houses dotting the landscape, I vow to avenge my tribe's death. I swear... Oh how I will slaughter the fire nation troops which massacred my tribe– and my beloved parents.

"Sir! The earthbenders are breaking through," I hear a Fire Nation soldier yell amidst flying flame and hurtling rock.

"Assemble the Flame Cannon! We need to push them back into the corner of the city!" Admiral Zhao returned while shooting flames from his speeding fists and lightning fast kicks.

"But sir- the prototype Flame Cannon will wipe out the entirety of Ba Sing-" The mere Fire Nation soldier was interrupted.

"No 'buts' soldier! You ALWAYS follow orders!" Zhao boomed. Four soldiers got into the ready position and pushed full force shooting metal-melting flame into the cannon. Whoosh! The iron tube glowed a dull red and shot out a volley of large balls of embers, which exploded on impact, destroying one man's cabbage stand and killing a handful of others.

Houses aflame, the earthbenders prepared a counterattack. BOOM! The earth rumbled around the outskirts of the city in the Fire Nation encampments. Boulders and dirt shot across the wall, burying a few Fire Nation tents along with a few soldiers. "Fire again! More power this time, soldiers!" Zhao shouted. Again, the cast-iron cylinder glowed a dull red-orange and fire shot across the sky, painting lines of smoke across the canvas of clouds.

Analay heard a rumbling in the distance. She deduced that she was somewhere near the walls of Ba Sing Se in the Earth Kingdom. She scanned the distance with her purple eyes, a mutation only found in Shadowbenders. Her eyes squinted and stared at bright red and orange flashes in the distance, roughly a kilometer away. Fire Nation.

Analay hopped on her shadow monster and rushed as fast as she could to the flashes of light, which showed up periodically with yells of pain and thuds of earth. Smack! A shard of rock hit her in the shoulder. Only five hundred meters away. Four hundred. She could feel the heat of flame upon her unprotected face. She put on her mask, a black and dark red, the shade of her dye on the ends and wisps of her jet-black hair. The mask looked a lot like the face of a wolf bat, and scared any attackers, which, during their bewilderment, she got the upper hand in battle.

"Zhao! A bender with a red and black wolfbat mask is riding toward us on a monster made up of seemingly shadows- how is this possible?" one Fire Nation captain asked.

With a loud stomp, Analay hopped off of the heap of shadows and brushed dust off her shoulders.

"Who are you?!" Zhao asked angrily.

"I am the end of you." Analay returned calmly through her mask. Crack! A whip lashed out, made of shadow, aimed for Zhao's face. Just in time, Zhao caught the end of the whip with his iron gauntlets, but not without it hitting him full force. A gash on his forehead, over his eyelid and down his left cheek, was now forming. A new threat befell them. Earthbenders. A volley of rock shot over their heads, over the Fire Nation encampment around the crumbling walls of Ba Sing Se.

Analay, the masked bandit, walked calmly towards the earthbenders. "I DEMAND to know who you are!" a young earthbender girl hollered at Analay. From her eyes, she looked blind, but Analay knew that didn't necessarily make her weak.

"I am here to help you take down the Fire Nation scum." The masked Analay replied. The blind earthbender crossed her arms, and then stuck out her hand in greeting.

"I'm Toph, the greatest, toughest earthbender around. We're under siege by Zhao and his men. By the looks of it, you cut him up pretty badly." Toph turned to the earthbenders around them. "Let's scare them off!" Toph shouted to them. A deafening cheer sounded among the crowd of civilians and soldiers alike.

Two guards opened the gate with earthbending, and the brave but small group of warriors stood in a formation, with Toph and Analay at the front. "You think you'll defeat us with that few? Hah!" Zhao blurted. From the looks of it, his wound was deeply etched. A bandage, stained red was wound around it.

"ATTACK! Shoot the Flame Cannon!" Zhao cried to the men behind him.

The ball of flame was coming fast. Toph stomped her right foot and a wall of earth sprung up in front of the line of earthbenders. With a deafening crash, the wall shattered, sending dirt clods everywhere. When the dust cleared, they were in a fighting stance. "Bring it on, Zhao." Toph taunted with a smirk.

[TO BE CONTINUED]

WRITTEN BY ICEWOLFCAT


	2. Chapter 2

Toph prepared a boulder to launch at Zhao, but left it levitating in mid air. "Wait," Analay said. "I want to ask some questions first. Who exactly do you think you are and why are you terrorizing the good people of Ba Sing Se?"

Zhao looked angry. With the bandage around his head, he looked fearsome. "Why do you even question me, and the whole populace of the mighty Fire Nation?" He shot a gust of flame into the sky. Behind him, the entire platoon of Fire Nation soldiers got into battle formation, assuming stance.

Toph didn't say anything. She lifted her hand and signaled the earthbenders into fighting stance, a low, wide legged position. Toph flicked her hand up to the sky. A mound of dirt and rock sprung up out of the ground and encased admiral Zhao. "Now, please be kind and answer my friend's questions," Toph said and soon pointed at Analay in her red and black wolfbat mask. "and while your at it, answer a few of mine too."

Zhao stared in bewilderment and struggled to get out of the tomb of earth. Only his bandaged head moved, the only area not surrounded. "H-how! I WILL send the troops to attack!" As Zhao said this, he nodded his head to the soldiers behind him, armed with spears and firebending.

"Bring it on," Toph and Analay said with a smirk. "just try." With a midair 360 degree spin, Analay shot shadow whips out from her fingers on all sides. The whips were like tendrils, searching for the assailant's legs. One by one, the attacking soldiers fell with a thump.

The rest of the enemy soldiers bolted. Zhao, worried, yelled "No! You can't retreat! I'm still HERE! Please! Someone help!" He tried moving and couldn't budge. Toph and Analay looked at each other and devised a plan. Drop the fragments of rock around admiral Zhao, and then tie him up with shadows, and leave him for the guards. The rock slid down. Zhao, face still bleeding and bandaged, sped off to the boats that the Fire Nation invaded with, but Analay's whips caught him and he fell face-first into the dusty earth with a thud. Sliding toward the guards and Analay, he pleaded. "No you can't do this! I'M AN ADMIRAL! My honor will be lost and-" he was interrupted by a strong, smug guard, in Earthbender armor. "Save it for the trial," he said. "You are not coming out for a long, long, time."

Analay nodded her head farewell and took off the wolfbat mask emblazoned with red and black. Her piercing purple eyes, a uniqueness found only in Shadowbenders, looked on to Zhao as he was carried away by the guards. A deafening cheer shot throughout the small band of earthbenders, the ones who will be forever marked in history, the few but brave who loosened the tight grip that the Fire Nation held on the rest of the world. Today was that day. Analay spoke. "I am going to overthrow Ozai and end his reign! I need able bodied men and women- this is no task for 1 person." Toph shot up her hand, and a cheer shot throughout the crowd.

"All you need is me, we can find other adventurers along the way," Toph explained. "Well then, lets go!" Toph dashed back to her house inside the city and grabbed a few things. 5 minutes later, she was back with a backpack and a sleeping roll perched atop it. Analay summoned a shadow monster and helped Toph atop it. She hopped on and they rode off towards the Fire Nation.


End file.
